Cameroon editor charged over leaked official document

New York, March 3,
2011--The Committee to Protect Journalists is concerned for the safety ofa
Cameroonian editor who is being prosecuted in connection with a leaked official
document, according to local journalists and news reports.

On February 24, a public
prosecutor in Yaoundé charged Raphaël Nkamtchuen,
editor of the periodical La Boussole,
with "unauthorized communication with a detainee" and "possession of
administrative documents labeled 'confidential,'" according to local
journalists. The charges are based on an October 27, 2009, letter that
allegedly leaked from the office of top presidential adviser Laurent Esso. Guards
found the letter on Nkamtchuen as he left Yaoundé's Kondengui Prison following
an interview with jailed former Finance Minister Polycarpe Abah Abah on
February 17. Nkamtchuen told CPJ the letter was leaked to him and that he
carried it into the prison.

The alleged letter from Esso informed the Vice Prime
Minister for Justice Amadou Alithat
President Paul Biya had approved the minister's proposal to arrest a number of
officials for corruption, including Abah Abah, Nkamtchuen told CPJ. Esso has
not publicly reacted to the allegations, according to local journalists. Abah Abah is one of several top officials arrested or accused of corruption
since the launch of an official anti-graft investigation called
Operation Sparrowhawk, according to news reports.

Nkamtchuen, was detained
for six days by Cameroonian military police before he was charged. He was free
pending trial on March 24, but he told CPJ he has gone into hiding after
receiving threatening phone calls.

"We are concerned for the safety of Raphaël Nkamtchuen, who has gone into hiding after being charged in
connection to his investigation into possible government abuse of power," said CPJ Africa Advocacy Coordinator Mohamed Keita. "We hold the government
responsible for his safety and well-being."

Nkamtchuen disputed the charges, saying it was the third
time he had visited Abah Abah in Kondengui Prison and that prison guards had
never required any special authorization to communicate with a detainee previously,
he told CPJ. However, a prison guard was arrested on charges of conspiring to facilitate
his entry, he said.

In Februay 2010, Esso ordered
the arrests of four journalists after another document purported to have
been leaked from his office detailing a kickbacks scheme surfaced, according to
CPJ research. The arrests lead to the death
in custody of one of the journalists, Germain
Cyrille Ngota.